Accuracy: 40 m (131 ft)

Quality: good

Click on any of the images for the full-sized picture.

05-Jun-2005 -- Imram is a high-performance expedition
sailing vessel: an Integral 12.50. In 2003 she explored the East coast
of Greenland, leaving from Northern France. In 2004 she sailed from Iceland via
Scoreby Sund and Jan Mayen to the Svalbard Islands successfully
crossing 80N and logging the so far northernmost confluence visits of DCP:
80N16E and 80N14E.

Late Spring and early Summer 2005 will see her migrating South to
Europe: From Tromsø, Norway to St.Malo, France, where her adventures
started three years ago. The first leg of this trip, along the coast
of Norway is an excellent opportunity to visit some confluences, and
after the succesfull visits to scenic 69°N 17°E and 68°N 14°E, we set our
course to cross 69°N 7°E. As all confluences we visited, this is located
at sea, and a sailboat is the perfect tool to pay it an ecological
visit. The plan was to leave Kristiansund, a pleasent and historical harbour where we
had stopped for refuelling and replenishing our food supplies to
continue our journey toward the South, sail through the confluence
and eventually stopping in some inspiring place where destiny would
bring us: The freedom of sailing!

A rainy and windy weather at the exit of Kristiansund indicated a
bumpy ride, and a wonderful rainbow seemed to call us back into the
harbour (Photo #2), but many miles to cover are in front of us, and
time suddenly can run short, while at sea, so we went on with our
plans and aimed at the confluence. The ride was indeed
bumpy and it took quite some navigational accurancy to find the best
course to the confluence, avoiding the dangers of the many underwater
rocks and dangerous shoals which fill the nautical charts of this part
of the Norwegian coast (Photo #3).

Eventually, between a squall and another, we crossed the confluence,
as our trustworth board GPS told us (Photo #4). Astongishly, we were
not the only sailboat around, that day, since the ritual photo to the
North (Photo #5) showed another boat fighting in the heavy weather,
against the background of the emptiness of the North Atlantic
Ocean. To the East (Photo #6), some bluish coastline was visible below
a gray sky and an also gray sea: after all, it was about half past eleven in
the evening local time, so not much light to be expected in these
conditions.

The view to the South (Photo#1) showed the classical
landscape of this part of Norway, sharp peaks hiding the entrance of
majestous fiords: the scars the primeval forces which shaped our
planet left on this land. To the West (Photo #7), nothing else to be
seen than the next squall we had to endure, that night, again with the
background of the Atlantic Ocean... a sight to behold all the way to
Greenland.

The rain, eventually, stopped (doesn't it always?) and an unforgettable
sunrise welcomed our arrival in the tiny village of Bjørnsund (Photo
#8), a set of small islands where a fisherman community have lived most
likely since the Viking times.